Blog of Web Developer Garry Pilkington

(ASP.Net, C#, AngularJs, JavaScript, HTML5 & UWP)

I am posting this here as somebody else thinking of creating store apps for Windows 10 might thing it interesting. I intend on following this post up with another about app promotion techniques.

App Statistics

Once you have an app published in the Windows Store, you can get to a wealth of information about which markets, demographics and devices are the most popular. This is in the form of in browser views, but you can also download the raw statistics for analysis using Excel for example as I have done here.

I have 5 apps in the store currently, but I am only going to concentrate on 3. MoonPhase is the oldest and has been in the store since Windows 8 was first released. It has over 6000 downloads to date and has recently been migrated to a Windows 10 UWP app. It was originally free, but I started changing for it a couple of months ago. I don’t make a huge amount of money from this app, but its better than nothing.

Looking at the past 30 days acquisitions and usage, the United States comes at the top of both with UK second.

Next is WebUp, this is another paid app which is just under two months old. It is aimed at the enterprise market sector that is responsible for web site monitoring, whether that be corporate intranets or public facing web sites.

These stats are a bit strange as they show United States download more, but the UK use the app more. Is there something stopping the US from using the app more after they have paid for it?

Both MoonPhase and WebUp show that the United States are quite happy to spend money in the store even if they don’t get the full use out of the software. The UK looks like they are better at getting more bang from their buck (or pound). WebUp is more expensive than MoonPhase which might be the reason the UK is lower in acquisition rates. I am about to run an experiment where both apps will be priced much lower and I will see if the price is forming a barrier to UK acquisition rates.

Thirdly is GetWalking. This is a free app aimed at the personal health sector, it is a simple pedometer that measures both distance walked and steps taken. It is the youngest of the 3 apps as it has only been in the store less than a month. I do intend on monetizing this app, possibly through advertisements, but not entirely sure yet. There are more features I wish to add, but currently I am just getting some stats in an MVP kind of way.

The chart shows that the UK has both the highest acquisition and usage, again with the US second in acquisitions, but strangely China overtakes it with usage. It seems that the Chinese market get more use out of this app than the US.

Interestingly all three app show that both the US and UK are either at the top or near the top of the charts in acquisition and usage. I am a UK based developer and these apps are published in all the markets that Microsoft allow, so I was expecting there to be more numbers from markets such as India and China. Is it a language thing perhaps?

Also very strange that an app can be used in the United Arab Emirates, but never acquired from there. Does this show that app statistics are not entirely tied to a users country of origin (Windows account country registration)?

None of these app have undergone any app promotional exercises except I have blogged about MoonPhase and WebUp. The Windows Store statistics show that all 3 of these apps get views from users coming to the store and searching not from outside search engines or sites such as Google/Bing or any of my previous posts (except for a handful, not worth bothering with).

Windows 9 aka Threshold

Just a day to go before more details are released about the next version of Windows and I thought I would have a guess at the name. Based on this image of Terry Myerson from this link:- https://www.wpcentral.com/microsofts-operating-system-leader-teases-new-windows-name-ahead-tuesday-reveal I have done some serious forensic image processing and in the end completely guessed that the Windows text will be centrally aligned. On my monitor and scaling in Paint.Net there is 156 pixels on the left hand side and just over 156 pixels on the right with no room left for any other lettering or wording as this image shows. So there you go, its just going to be Windows from now on. Happy codeing.

I am not big on predictions especially when it comes to the tech industry; it just moves too quickly. However I am going to chance one, but maybe its more a wishful thought than a prediction, but here goes. A Prediction for Windows By the end of 2014 there will be two windows operating systems. Windows Pro - Running Intel 32 and 64 bit versions which will give users access to apps from the store and legacy (lets face it the vast majority of applications are the more traditional ones we have been using for the past couple decades; they ain't going anywhere just yet.) Windows on ARM - This will be any other device from phone to 10 inch tablets. But here's the killer; Microsoft will drop the Phone title, so there won't be a Windows Phone anymore. Just devices that may or nay not include a phone. They have to drop the Phone moniker simply because they have to have a simpler name for any ARM device. This will solve Julie Larson-Greens issue when she referred to not having the three Windows operating systems. So when will this happen? There will most likely be an announcement at Build 2014 about Windows Phone 8.1. But there is already leaks about Windows 8.1 Update 1. Maybe this will align the ARM OS more closely with an 8.2 release that will leave only the Windows Pro 8.2 and Windows 8.2 running on ARM chips. A Wish for Bing As there will be different device sizes, could Microsoft Bing please filter web results for the size if the requesting device? Doing Shopping at Christmas on a Lumia 520 to find the site doesn't have a responsive site is just unworkable in this day and age. If a website wants to take my money, please at least make the experience a reasonable one. Happy Coding